Sprawling, windowless warehouses pop up across America. They belong to tech companies such as Amazon and Google. These giants house thousands of computers. They’re data centers—and they might be coming to a neighborhood near you.
It takes many, many computers called servers to support the sites and apps of the World Wide Web, and many of those servers reside in data centers. Have you ever saved something “to the cloud”? That’s just another term for saving it on a server—probably in a data center.
The “cloud” drives demand for these large buildings. Artificial intelligence adds to that demand. AI requires loads of processing power—and that means more servers. But where to put them all?
How about next door?
Richard Andre Newman grew up in Fairfax County, Virginia. He planned to spend the rest of his life in its quiet suburbs. Now nearly 60 years old, he thinks of leaving because he’s getting a new neighbor: Plaza 500, a 466,000-square-foot data center and electrical substation. The facility will be built just a few hundred feet from the townhomes and playgrounds of his neighborhood.
Newman’s neighbors held protests. They went to county meetings. Their efforts failed.
What’s wrong with a nearby data center?
Some say the centers use too much power. Northern Virginia already hosts over 300 data centers. In 2023, those centers claimed 25% of all power produced in the state. With continued growth, that figure could rise to 46% by 2030.
Others fear the rising cost of water. According to some estimates, a mid-sized data center uses as much water as 1,000 households—every day! Other people lament pollution from the massive diesel generators that power data centers. And, of course, ugly warehouses might mar the beauty of their neighborhoods.
But many governments welcome data centers. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin says the state’s data centers brought $1 billion in tax revenue to the state in 2024. That money paid for roads, fire engines, school resources, and more. Data centers also create jobs.
Some governments even offer tax cuts to attract data companies. If there aren’t such incentives, data companies will likely take their money elsewhere.
Kathy Smith serves on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. She voted in favor of the Plaza 500 data center.
“I have a responsibility to step back from what we do and look at the big picture,” she says. “Data centers are not going away.”
These high-tech neighbors offer perks to the towns that cut a deal. But will those towns sell their souls—and lose residents—in the process?
Why? Our web-based world runs on physical resources, and those resources come at a cost. People need wisdom to manage progress well.
